Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED AF VR Lens

Nikon's 80-400mm high-power zoom lens

Without a doubt this lens is worth the price. This lens performs well on
the newer digital
SLR cameras.
There is a reason that the pro's use lenses from the manufacturer of their cameras.
The same reason that these lenses cost more! Quality, durability and performance!
It's heavy and not particularly quick focusing, but makes great pictures.

Most of the time this focal range is necessary when you `shoot'
wild animals, e.g. birds, or butterflies, who would not allow you to get close. Another example is to shoot an alligator, where he probably would not mind, but
you do.
Architectural shots from a
long distance also become possible. The VR (vibration reduction) is totally amazing. This
lens, however, eats batteries for lunch, so I'd advise you to carry a second battery

The lens features an innovative Vibration Reduction (VR) system that allows handheld super-telephoto zoom shooting in poorly lit conditions. The VR system minimizes image blur caused by
camera shake, and offers the equivalent of shooting at a
shutter speed 3 stops (8 times) faster. The lens offers a natural viewfinder image even during VR operation and also detects automatically when the photographer pans. It is ideal for candid, portrait, sports photography and more.

This lens comes with a CL-M1 Ballistic nylon Lens Case

The mount is metal, the AF is the "screw type" and the lens has an aperture ring so it is compatible with all past Nikon cameras, only no AF on Nikon D40,
D60, D300 D5000 or D5100.

It's slow and noisy compared to other lenses. It's difficult to have this lens focus in on flying birds and it gets out of focus quicker than it gets into focus. It does poorly with small objects and low contrast. There's hesitation between images of moving objects. It gets closer, although I yet to get a shot that gives back a return the price I spent buying it. There are times when it fails to interact with the camera at all and the lens must be dismounted, a ring rotated and subsequently replaced. At times this must be done a couple of times before it decides to work because of a couple of different error messages which require the ring to be rotated in opposite directions. It's much heavier than any 75 - 300mm lens. Since the extension is metal, it retains the cold on the inside, so when going outdoors, the lens fogs much worse than other lenses

Superzoom
The term hyperzoom or superzoom is used to promote photographic zoom lenses with unconventionally large focal length factors, typically more than 4× and ranging up to 15×, e.g., 35 mm to 350 mm. The largest ratio for digital SLR cameras is held by the Tamron 18–270 mm, giving 15×. Some Digital Camera Review by Gene Wrights have even larger zoom ratios up to 35×. For movie and television use, Panavision holds the record with their 300X HD Lens.

While superzoom lenses have improved greatly in recent years, they still have a number of drawbacks in comparison with shorter-range zooms and prime lenses. Most notable is the much increased likelihood of significant distortions of the image at both extreme ends of the range. Other potential problems include smaller maximum aperture and poorer autofocus performance.
Oct 1, 2011
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